Customised Resin Dollhouse Figuresby Linda Holmes

Just lately I have started to have a go at making my dollhouse occupants with a mix of sculpy and fimo and using a Patricia Rose mold, but I also have a rather fun way of populating the houses, and that is by using resin figures.

Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t just plonk a readymade figure in the house or, in the case I am going to tell you about, on the pavement. I customise them by adding little extras which makes them very much my own. In this case I couldn’t resist buying a bargain figure of a Victorian lady at a fair for only £4.30 and then took her home to begin her makeover.

First I soaked some material in pva and applied it to her skirt.

Next I used a watered down acrylic to change the colour of her coat to a dark camel and then applied some chenille around her coat hem.

Some braid around her sleeves and collar and some bead buttons down the front and she was beginning to “take shape”.

I disliked the hat box that she was carrying so I filled it out with cardboard to resemble a Gladstone bag and then stuck patterned velour on it and trimmed that with some brown glove leather.

Her posy was too artificial so I used some little fimo buds and a couple of fimo flower shapes and some moss to lift it.

Her hair needed a good going over so I dug out some curls from one of my little boxes of bits (we all have them don’t we?) and she acquired a lovely new hairdo.

Some tiny pearl beads now adorn her ears.

The hat came next and I unpicked a cheap one that was hanging around waiting to be made use of and then stuck a single layer of it around her old hat changing the shape completely and added some pink chenille too, the existing violet flowers looked nice left where they were so they were one of the few original things that remain intact.

It is quite easy to adapt these cheap little figures. I also have a resin maid who now has a real feather duster, black satin frock and lacy trimmings to her fresh cotton apron and cap.

I don’t intend to use these people for all my scenes but they do make a change, they are fairly cheap and adapting them is such fun, I encourage everyone to have a go.